Look here for my new novel  It Happened in Lone Pine

From the Amazon description:

“Ted Temple, finishing his last project before retirement, discovers that he is the owner of a presidential rail car. On his first trip, the railroad must drop his car off because of a landslide next to the little mountain town of Lone Pine, Montana. He soon becomes involved with the mayor, who is embroiled in a conflict with the people of Lone Pine over ownership of the town. Together the two men learn that Ted’s rail car had been in Lone Pine before, and that it had a connection with an abandoned gold mine. What has upset the residents of Lone Pine? And what secrets does the rail car carry?”

Available for Kindle now; available in print soon. If you like it, it would be great if you could leave a nice review on Amazon–thanks!

Mom, Dad and I were working in the garden one morning.  Dad was hoeing sweet corn, I was staking up tomato’s and Mom was picking green beans.  I was walking over to the side of the garden to pick up some more stakes when Mon started yelling at Dad.

“Steve!  Come quick,  there is a snake in the bean row.”

Dad came running thru the corn patch and into the bean rows.  “Where is the snake?” he yelled.

“Right there,” and she started pointing in front of her.

Dad walked over to her so he could see what she was pointing at.  “It’s just a black snake.  It isn’t going to hurt you.  He’s just looking for bugs.  You can go ahead and pick beans.  He will move on over to another row.”  Dad started laughing.

Mom yelled, “kill that snake.  I’m not about to pick any more beans while there is a snake in the garden!”  She picked up her bucket of picked beans and headed for the house.  She was mad.

Dad went ahead and killed the snake and I threw it over the fence into the pasture.  He told me to go ahead and pick the rest of the beans for mother.  I went over to the edge of the garden and picked up a bag that mom left there.  It took me about an hour to finish picking the rest of the bean batch.  When I had finished it was about time for lunch so dad and I carried the beans to the house and put them on the back porch.

After we ate lunch mom asked me to snap all the beans she and I had picked so she could can them.

I didn’t mind snapping beans, although I had hoped to go swimming in the pond in the afternoon.  The good thing was that I could snap the beans on the back porch where there was a good breeze and I didn’t have to be out in the hot sun helping dad hoe the corn.

Now, snapping beans can be boring after awhile but it is not all that bad a job.  You just have to pay attention and throw out the wormy ones and put the snapped beans in the big kettle so mom could wash them and put them in the jars.  She liked to can them in the pressure cooker.

Even though I would liked to have done other things during the afternoon, snapping bean was not all that bad.  It gave me time to think of other things.  One of the things I was thinking was how good the beans would be when mom put the beans in a kettle, chopped up bacon and put a big spoonful of homemade butter on them and cooked them for supper.  They are so good to eat and it makes all the work worthwhile.

I’m not sure we will get mom to pick beans again.  I’m sure it will be my job next time.

The End

Dear Aunt Sadie.

If you remember we all called you Aunt Sadie even though you were just our teacher.  I guess you reminded us of some aunt we really liked.  I remember your silver hair with every hair in its proper place all day long.  Your five foot two just barely taller than most of us boys and your back straight as a yard stick.  Yes, I remember how you used to keep the yardstick in the corner by the wastebasket.  When you wanted our attention you used to take that yard stick and point it at us so we knew who you were talking to.  The only other time you used the yard stick was when you wanted to make a straight lie on the blackboard.  Oh yes, I remember the day you pointed it at me and said, “Young man, keep your eyes on me when I am talking to you.  You can look at that young lady after school.”

We didn’t need a clock in our room because you always walked to the door and opened it just before the bell rang.  The amazing thing was you didn’t have a watch or have a clock in the room.  After the first day of class we never ran out the door even if it was a fire alarm test.  We walked.  You were strict but never raised your voice or spoke in anger.

At the end of the class period you would always write the next days assignment on the black board.  A few weeks into the semester you asked me a question about the assignment for the day.  I had forgotten what the assignment was all about and was not at all able to give you an answer.  I suppose I was daydreaming or looking out the window.  You looked at me and said, without raising your voice, “Young man, from the looks of your paper I would say you are not very interested in become educated or amounting to something. In this class you will amount to something.  Tomorrow morning you will hand in todays lesson corrected and tomorrows lesson as well.”

Of course everyone in the class was about to break out laughing and you stood up behind your desk and said. “Every one of you take your paper and write the correct answer to todays lesson, found on page 23, three times and hand it in to me in the next fifteen minutes”  There was a mad rush in the class.  You sat down in your chair and quietly watched the class.

We all turned in our papers as you requested.  The bell rang and we left the class.  You stood by the door and said, “Thank you Children.  We will have a very good class tomorrow.”  And we did.  It was your caring spirit that I believe we all responded to and your loving us that helped us to amount to something.

“You look pretty serious today, Toby.  Are you enjoying the shade of this tree?” asked Grandfather’

Toby was sitting on a big root of the tree in the backyard.

“I guess so,” said Toby.  He looked up at his Grandfather and smiled halfheartedly.  “I’m really more sad, I guess.”

Grandfather knelt down beside Toby and looked at him for a minute.  Then he said. “Toby, a boy your age should be playing with some of his friends instead of sitting under a tree feeling sad.  Can you tell me what is troubling you so?”

Toby put his head on his knees and said, “Butch, my dog, died, Grandfather.  I really miss him.”

“Oh my,” said Grandfather, “when did that happen?  I’m sorry but I didn’t know about Butch.  Was he sick?”

“I don’t know what was wrong with Butch.  I went to feed him yesterday morning and he was dead.”  Toby began to pucker up like he might cry.

“Well, how old was Butch?” asked Grandfather.

“He was older than me.  Dad got him before i was born.”  Toby raised his head and leaned back on the tree.

“My goodness, he must have died of old age then,”exclaimed Grandfather.  He looked at Toby and saw a glimmer of a smile.

“Yeah, I bet that was it.  I sure miss him.  I was going to take him to the park and run and play with him but now I can’t.  Grandfather, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course you can, Toby.  I may not be able to answer it but try me.”

“Grandfather, do dogs go to heaven?”

Grandfather lay back on the grass and thought for a minute.  Then he raised up on one arm and said, “I really don’t know, Toby.  I have asked the same question several times when my pets have died.”  Toby’s mouth began to turn to a frown he looked at his grandfather.

Grandfather continued, “C. S, Lewis, a great Christian writer, once said, “It seems to me possible that certain animals may have an immortality, not in themselves, but in the immortality of their masters.”  Now that may be hard to understand but I think he may have been on the right tract.  Just remember, God cares for all his creation.”

Toby looked into Grandfather’s face and could see a little twinkle in his eye.

“Grandfather, are you trying to tease me with big words?”  He raised up from the tree root and slid over on the grass near his grandfather.

“Do you think God created Butch like He has everything else. Toby?”

“Oh Grandfather, you know God did.  You told me enough times that God created everything; birds, animals,fish, the earth and us.

“Toby, you must have lots of good memories about Butch.  You will always have these memories with you even if you don’t have Butch.”

Suddenly Toby sat up.  “Grandfather, I think i see what you mean.  God takes care of all his creation including us, right?  So, God will take care of Butch and I will have the memories with me.  I will have a little bit of him with me but i can still miss him.  I like that idea Grandfather.”  Toby jumped up and grabbed Grandfather’s hand, helping up.  “It’s cool aid time,” Toby said as they headed for the house.

The End